“He entered the academy with his head held high, as a champion who
was looking for the path to regaining his title,” Cordeiro told
Sherdog.com. “The training here will make him stronger, but we’re
not a miracle house. We don’t do miracles. This is a place where
he’ll work hard, a place where he’ll make sure he’ll never again
fight like he did against Jones. That’s the only guarantee we gave
him.”

Rafael
Cordeiro file photo

Cordeiro trained Rua for years.

After 10 days of hard work, Shogun plans to head home to organize
matters before returning to the United States in the middle of the
month. Cordeiro vowed to help Rua evolve for his rematch against
Forrest
Griffin at UFC 134 on
Aug. 27 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Conversations to bring Rua to Kings MMA, according to Cordeiro,
began long ago and picked up steam before he surrendered the light
heavyweight title to Jones at UFC 128.

“We’ve been talking a long time about him joining Kings MMA. We
talked before the Jon Jones fight, but some family issues prevented
him from coming to the U.S.,” Cordeiro said. “Right after UFC 128,
Shogun decided to join us, and he has already looked for places to
live with his family, car, stuff like that to spend the two and a
half months of the camp.

“It was easy to convince him because of our friendship and
affection,” he added.

“I was his coach from the time he was a white belt until he was a
black belt. No one knows him as I do, and I can say there is a lot
we can add here to improve on his game.”